Cit″i‐zen (?), n. [OE. citisein, OF. citeain, F. citoyen, fr. cité city. See City, and cf. Cit.] 1. One who enjoys the freedom and privileges of a city; a freeman of a city, as distinguished from a foreigner, or one not entitled to its franchises.
That large body of the working men who were not counted as citizens and had not so much as a vote to serve as an anodyne to their stomachs.
G. Eliot.
2. An inhabitant of a city; a townsman. Shak.
3. A person, native or naturalized, of either sex, who owes allegiance to a government, and is entitled to reciprocal protection from it.
☞ This protection is... national protection, recognition of the individual, in the face of foreign nations, as a member of the state, and assertion of his security and rights abroad as well as at home. Abbot
4. One who is domiciled in a country, and who is a citizen, though neither native nor naturalized, in such a sense that he takes his legal status from such country.